Over the course of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, a previously unknown entrepreneur, Andrew Yang, has pushed his way into the top ten. In the first two candidate debates, Yang received little airtime, but used it effectively to differentiate himself from the other candidates.

He is clearly trying to appeal to millennial voters with his casual look, jacket and no tie, and his offer to pay Americans $1,000 per month. To stress his unusual approach, Yang prepped for the third debate last night in Houston by boxing and crowd surfing with his supporters.

Last night, Yang took advantage of the opportunity by offering to pay ten lucky families $1,000 per month for a year. Curiously, Yang calls this giveaway a “freedom dividend.” The money will be funded by Yang’s campaign and his attorneys claim that it is legal to reward 10 random families.

Unfortunately, the real problem is not whether the payments are illegal, but that the “freedom dividend” giveaways are a disincentive for Americans to work and be productive. If Americans receive a continual stream of free benefits from the government, there is no incentive for them to support their families by becoming industrious and contributing to our private sector economy.

The Founding Fathers did not create a constitutional republic 243 years ago for our federal government to reward every American with $12,000 per year for doing nothing. This stunt is another in a long line of Democratic Party proposals that are an insult to the legacy of our Founding Fathers, who endured tremendous sacrifices to establish this “shining city on a hill.”

When our country was created, it would have been an insane idea for any Founding Father to advocate that it is the responsibility of the American government to reward able bodied Americans with financial assistance. Our federal government should provide a “hand up” to those in need of assistance, not a handout for those who can take care of themselves.

Our federal government should aid Americans who are truly needy, such as those who are sick, disabled, or elderly. It is certainly not the role of government to provide free cash to Americans unwilling to work.

Yang continues this disturbing trend in the Democratic Party to try to buy the votes of Americans with handouts. Among the current field of Democratic presidential candidates, there are proposals for free healthcare, free education, the elimination of all student debt and now free cash.

Yang is hoping this stunt will catapult him into the top tier of Democratic presidential candidates in this election. With such an unimpressive field, his gambit may work, but it is unfortunate that his main message is to give people free money.

A better approach is what President Trump has achieved in our economy. He has provided tax cuts, reduced government regulations and given Americans an opportunity to succeed. Fortunately, Americans have taken full advantage of the President’s proposals and more people are working today than at any point in our country’s history.

This county was built into the world’s only superpower by Americans who enjoyed risk taking and engaged in courageous exploration. Americans have a great history of bold entrepreneurship and hearty individualism. It would be a travesty if we abandoned that history to follow the lead of so many ruined socialist and communist nations who saw citizens not as partners in a successful future, but as just wards of the state receiving crumbs from an almighty government.

With such contrasting visions of our government and the future of the country, the stakes of the 2020 presidential election could not be higher.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com

Here’s what we learned from the first democratic presidential debate last week. Do not fraternize with those you disagree with and never refer to a fellow politician as son, boy or anything similar. It’s just not “politically correct.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden was roasted for talking about trying to find common ground with conservative southern senators when he served in the U.S. Senate. “At least there was some civility” Biden said about working with segregationists like former Mississippi Senator James Eastland. He should not have been so “civil” says a number of other democratic candidates.

I’ll tell you this. These presidential wannabes have never spent time around the Louisiana legislature. When I was elected to the Louisiana State Senate back in 1972, I sat in the Senate chambers shrouded by older senators who had served in that body for a number of years. They included Harvey Peltier from Thibodaux, Jackson Davis from Shreveport, Jesse Knowles, who survived the Baton death march in World War II, and J.E. “Boysie” Jumonville from New Roads. They all were quite conservative, more so they me.

Many of these senators had served through the segregation era and had opposed any legislation involving civil rights. When I took office, we often disagreed and I did my best to bring them around to my point of view. But we were always civil and we often socialized and shared a meal when the legislative day was done.

Should I have scorned those who disagreed with me as Joe Biden is accused of not doing. Of course not. The whole focus of a democracy is to confect workable solutions where a consensus can come together. Failing to confer with those you disagree with is, in my opinion, a dereliction of one’s oath of office.

I was affectionally referred to by these elder senators, as “the new kid” and “young Brown.” Boysie Jumonville, who sat right next to me, often called me son or boy. I never took offense, nor did I think his term of “boy” had any racial connotations. A far cry of the onslaught of criticism Biden is facing today.

Let me tell you how bad the racial tension could have become. With much humor and gusto, Louisiana’s first black representative, Dutch Moriel from New Orleans, relished telling of his first day at the state capitol in Baton Rouge as a new legislator. Representatives have seat-mates, with their two desks sitting side by side. As chance would have it, Dutch sat right next to Representative Jesse McLain, who represented an archconservative district in southeast Louisiana that had been a hotbed of Klu Klux Klan activity. Now Dutch was from a Creole background and quite light skinned.

Dutch told me that when he took his seat, Jesse leaned over and whispered: “Where’s that N…..? (Yes, the N word.) Dutch said he just smiled, looked around the room for a minute, then leaned over to Jesse, got right up in his face, and said: “You’re looking at him.” Then he burst out laughing. A flustered McClain excused himself from the legislature for the rest of the day.

McClain came back the next day and apologized. Dutch told me that they became friends, and that he worked on McClain for the next four years to make him more enlightened on a number of social issues.

Of course you have to reach out when you are in public office. We will never agree on all matters, but there is a middle ground on a number of social and economic issues that both make sense and serve the public interest. For some current presidential candidates to argue otherwise is bad policy and bad governing.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com. You can also hear Jim’s nationally syndicated radio show each Sunday morning from 9:00 am till 11:00 am Central Time on the Genesis Radio Network, with a live stream at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.

The torch Joe Biden claims he’s still carrying is sputtering like a firecracker on a wet lawn. In the second night of Democratic televised look-me-overs, the former V.P. was shut down by Cal Sen. Kamala Harris in a set piece that should spell the end for Uncle Joe. Harris, in contrast to Biden’s pasteurized plastic smile, was emotive, prosecutorial, and intelligent when she attacked Biden for comments he made, recently, about working with segregationist senators back in the day.

The fact is, on many issues, it’s necessary to work with others whose viewpoints on any number of topics are dissimilar. That’s how democracy works. Why Biden felt it necessary to raise the specter of the once ago South, by invoking the memory of segregationist Herman Talmadge, (D) GA, shows he was sleeping when Trent Lott, (R) MI, was forced out of his senate leadership role for lauding SC Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 1948 run for president.

Biden’s wheels, it’s apparent, are stuck in a rut on a road the railroad made obsolete long ago. He should quit now while he can do so gracefully. Imagine, for a moment, Harris on stage with Donald Trump. She’d have no lurking and pacing behind her the way Trump bedeviled Hillary Clinton during a debate last session. She’d be immune to the name calling, and there’d be no way for the president to escape her grasp of the law and his own studied indifference to it.

Considering Robert Mueller’s timid reluctance to call a spade a spade, what better candidate could the Democrats put forth than a seasoned prosecutor to lay out the case for a revival of American values, and benefits of a return to the rule of law. Harris could do worse than campaign on the slogan “Bring Back America” because what we’ve lost under the Trump presidency is a sense of compassion, common decency, and respect for one another. These are characteristics that once defined us but, regrettably, have fled from our land in which children are caged by the government like animals in a third-rate zoo.

We have, also, lost any sense of nuance. You are either a “winner” or “loser” in Trump’s America; there’s no in between, meaning most of us non-billionaires are losers. When Trump proclaimed that he loved the uneducated during the last campaign it was because he knew people find it easier to worship a golden calf than struggle with rules. It was easier to believe that he “alone can fix it” than to put shoulder to plow. The policies of the president have led us into a thicket of questionable dealings with traditional enemies, the embrace of a coarsened public discourse, challenges to the foundations of jurisprudence, and set us one upon the other, gladiatorial style.

To set things right, we do not need Joe Biden, we need someone who can articulate what’s wrong with the current administration, nepotism, self-enrichment, and disdain for anyone holding opposing viewpoints. To change course, the nation needs someone who will test the furies and make the case that Donald Trump is not the American he pretends to be. One person who can do that is Kamala Harris, and for that reason she bears watching.